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fellowshippers2007-01-19 11:26 pm
v-angelique.livejournal.com) wrote in fellowshippers2007-01-19 11:26 pm
Entry tags:
- au,
- craig/david,
- r
Fic: Of Best Friends and Lunchboxes (3/12)
Title: Of Best Friends and Lunchboxes (3/12)
Author: Viktoria Angelique (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
v_angelique)
Pairing: DW/CP
Rating: series up to R; PG this part
Disclaimer: This is very, very untrue, and AU in fact, so even more untrue! Also, I'm borrowing real people including Dave's wife and daughter, but only the names are real, the rest--completely fictional.
Warning: Het mentioned.
Chapter Summary: Dave is a good Samaritan, and Craig gives him something in return.
Previous Chapters
The first two weeks of having Craig Parker as a next-door neighbour passed rather uneventfully. Kate did a little snooping, and found out that he spent most of his time during the day at home writing, and at night going to rehearsals for a Shakespeare production he was involved in as a dramaturge. She didn’t like the idea of a man staying at home during the day, but at least he stayed within his house, and didn’t seem to have the kind of parties she was afraid of.
Dave, for his part, almost never saw the guy. When he left for work in the morning, the shutters to the little one-storey house were almost always closed. When he came home, the car in the driveway was usually gone. He had seen Craig once or twice on a weekend, getting his mail, but that was about it. The man was fairly unremarkable from what Dave could tell. His appearance didn’t scream “homosexual!” or “immorality!” He was just a man.
A man who, at eleven at night on his third Friday in Sydney, showed up on Dave’s doorstep, soaked to the bone.
Dave had just been reading one of the books he sometimes indulged in when Kate was away, Kerouac’s On the Road. Kate was spending the weekend with her parents, but she left Eliza Jane with Dave. So, when Craig appeared, explaining that there was a problem with his roof and he really didn’t want to intrude, but there was a massive leak and he needed some help covering it up until the storm passed, Dave was alone.
“I’m really sorry to disturb you, but I just thought you might have some tarp or something, be able to give me a hand?” Craig looked extremely apologetic, almost afraid of Dave. Dave grinned, amused that anyone would have that impression of him, and gestured the man inside.
“Please, come in. I’ll just run back to the garage, I’m sure we have something.”
“Oh, I can wait here. I don’t want to get your carpet wet…”
“Nonsense! You’re soaked, mate! I don’t want you to catch your death out there,” Dave insisted, gesturing Craig in and shutting the front door behind him. “Besides,” he added with a conspiratorial smile. “My wife’s gone for the weekend. It’ll dry before she gets home.”
Craig laughed genuinely at that, and Dave couldn’t help but notice the way his dark eyes seemed to sparkle with mirth when he did so. Blushing slightly, he led the way through the house and out to the garage, where he was able to find some clear plastic folded up from a project, as well as a hammer and nails and some heavy-duty tape to secure it.
“I’m Dave, by the way,” Dave introduced himself as he handed Craig the folded tarp and wrapped a tool belt around his own waist, putting the hammer, nails, and tape in the pockets. “I’m sorry I haven’t been by to welcome you to the neighbourhood, yet…”
“Oh, it’s fine. I know your wife wasn’t too thrilled to have me here. I’m used to the cold shoulder,” Craig replied with a shrug.
Dave frowned. “Well, I’d hate for anyone to think of us that way. Kate, she’s just… well, she’s set in her ways. And I’m sorry, that she gave you that impression, but she really does have a good heart. She just has a certain narrow view of scripture…”
“Do you share that view?” Craig asked as they headed back into the main house, his tone not accusatory but genuinely curious.
“Well…” Dave paused a minute, not really sure of his answer. “I don’t know,” he finally replied honestly. “I’m Catholic, but I… I mean, I believe that Christ wanted us to love our neighbours, so….” Dave shrugged. “Whatever your lifestyle is, mate, I don’t have a problem with it. It’s your business. Just don’t tell my wife or priest that,” he added with a smile.
Craig chuckled and nodded. “Your secret’s safe with me. Besides, I doubt there will be anything all that scandalous to report from my side of the fence. I’m a pretty quiet guy, and after the last relationship, I think I’m swearing off men for a while.”
“Damn, I’m sorry,” Dave replied as he pulled his rain slicker from the closet and tugged it over his head. “What happened, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Oh, different goals, I guess. He said I was too romantic… some gay men think that romance is entirely for women, you know, that we should do nothing but have sex all the time, and that monogamy is overrated. At least, it was for him.”
“Oh, wow. I’m sorry, mate. That must have been hell.”
Craig shrugged. “Yeah, well, it was time for a change. So, you ready to brave the storm?”
Dave grinned and nodded. “I’ll tell you a secret. I love summer storms. Before I was married, I used to go outside and run around in them, in my clothing. I just got completely soaked and stood there with my arms out and my head back. Haven’t done that in years, though.”
Craig grinned. “I’ve gotta say, mate. I don’t envy you. This marriage thing doesn’t sound like all it’s cracked up to be if you can’t even run in the rain.”
Dave laughed at that, shrugging his shoulders. “Well, we all make our sacrifices. But we’d better get going before your house becomes one of those sacrifices!”
And with that, the two men hurried out into the storm, running through the soaked lawns to Craig’s front door, which was unlocked and quickly thrown open. “Right, then, it’s just up in the attic. You might as well leave your mac on; it’s pretty bad.”
Dave followed Craig to a pull-down door in the ceiling, and then up a wooden ladder to an attic that was quickly becoming soaked, a good bit of plaster and several roof tiles sitting on the attic floor along with some stray twigs that had blown in.
“All right, mate. Why don’t you hold the edge of the tarp here, outside of the damaged area, and I’ll nail it down?” Dave yelled over the roar of the rain. Craig nodded in agreement and held the tarp up, and they quickly got to work, nailing a plastic square in place to cover the hole from the outside, and then finishing it off from the inside and reinforcing with tape.
“I can’t promise that’ll be completely leak-proof,” Dave admitted when they were through. “But it’ll at least hold till morning, and then we can assess the damage and call someone out here. I know a guy…”
Craig stopped Dave with a hand on his shoulder, smiling brightly. “Dave. You’ve done more than enough, mate. You don’t need to help any more than you already have. I’ll find somebody…”
“No, I insist. Come on, I’ve got nothing better to do. Now let’s get this mess cleaned up,” he suggested, gesturing to the debris surrounding them. Craig smiled and agreed, and they spent the next hour in amiable conversation, getting everything salvageable sorted and the rest thrown away. When they were through, Dave was almost reluctant to go. It was the first time in a while that he had spent a considerable amount of time with anyone other than his wife, members of the congregation, or his co-workers, and it was refreshing.
“Well, I’d better head back. My daughter’s sleeping, and I’ve already left her alone for a while…”
“Yeah, of course. I’m sorry about that.”
“Hey, no problem. It was wonderful to meet you, Craig…”
“Yeah, you too. Hey, I have an idea, though. Can you spare five more minutes?”
Dave raised an eyebrow in question. “Yeah, I guess…”
“C’mon, then. Take off your mac for a second.”
“Okay…” Dave gave Craig a sceptical look, but pulled the wet slicker over his head and draped it on a chair.
“Relax, Dave, I’m not going to molest you. Leave your tool belt, too.”
Dave laughed at the voicing of an unspoken fear which he realized strangely he hadn’t even been experiencing, and undid his belt, placing it on the chair as well.
“Great. Now follow me.”
At first, Dave just stared as Craig opened his front door and ran out into the rain, but after a moment, laughing loudly, he followed, joining Craig in the middle of his front lawn and splashing through the puddles, his arms held out to the sides as he spun around and around, shrieking with joy, his head tilted back as the rainwater slicked down his face and plastered his hair to his scalp. Craig grinned and gave chase, making it halfway around the house before they fell next to each other with a splash in the backyard. Dave’s clothes were soaked, and more than a little muddy, but he felt freer than he had in years. Turning his head to the side, he saw Craig, eyes closed and mouth open in laughter, and his heart soared. Dave suspected that finally, after years of marriage and adulthood, he had found a good candidate for a best friend.
Author: Viktoria Angelique (
v_angelique)Pairing: DW/CP
Rating: series up to R; PG this part
Disclaimer: This is very, very untrue, and AU in fact, so even more untrue! Also, I'm borrowing real people including Dave's wife and daughter, but only the names are real, the rest--completely fictional.
Warning: Het mentioned.
Chapter Summary: Dave is a good Samaritan, and Craig gives him something in return.
Previous Chapters
The first two weeks of having Craig Parker as a next-door neighbour passed rather uneventfully. Kate did a little snooping, and found out that he spent most of his time during the day at home writing, and at night going to rehearsals for a Shakespeare production he was involved in as a dramaturge. She didn’t like the idea of a man staying at home during the day, but at least he stayed within his house, and didn’t seem to have the kind of parties she was afraid of.
Dave, for his part, almost never saw the guy. When he left for work in the morning, the shutters to the little one-storey house were almost always closed. When he came home, the car in the driveway was usually gone. He had seen Craig once or twice on a weekend, getting his mail, but that was about it. The man was fairly unremarkable from what Dave could tell. His appearance didn’t scream “homosexual!” or “immorality!” He was just a man.
A man who, at eleven at night on his third Friday in Sydney, showed up on Dave’s doorstep, soaked to the bone.
Dave had just been reading one of the books he sometimes indulged in when Kate was away, Kerouac’s On the Road. Kate was spending the weekend with her parents, but she left Eliza Jane with Dave. So, when Craig appeared, explaining that there was a problem with his roof and he really didn’t want to intrude, but there was a massive leak and he needed some help covering it up until the storm passed, Dave was alone.
“I’m really sorry to disturb you, but I just thought you might have some tarp or something, be able to give me a hand?” Craig looked extremely apologetic, almost afraid of Dave. Dave grinned, amused that anyone would have that impression of him, and gestured the man inside.
“Please, come in. I’ll just run back to the garage, I’m sure we have something.”
“Oh, I can wait here. I don’t want to get your carpet wet…”
“Nonsense! You’re soaked, mate! I don’t want you to catch your death out there,” Dave insisted, gesturing Craig in and shutting the front door behind him. “Besides,” he added with a conspiratorial smile. “My wife’s gone for the weekend. It’ll dry before she gets home.”
Craig laughed genuinely at that, and Dave couldn’t help but notice the way his dark eyes seemed to sparkle with mirth when he did so. Blushing slightly, he led the way through the house and out to the garage, where he was able to find some clear plastic folded up from a project, as well as a hammer and nails and some heavy-duty tape to secure it.
“I’m Dave, by the way,” Dave introduced himself as he handed Craig the folded tarp and wrapped a tool belt around his own waist, putting the hammer, nails, and tape in the pockets. “I’m sorry I haven’t been by to welcome you to the neighbourhood, yet…”
“Oh, it’s fine. I know your wife wasn’t too thrilled to have me here. I’m used to the cold shoulder,” Craig replied with a shrug.
Dave frowned. “Well, I’d hate for anyone to think of us that way. Kate, she’s just… well, she’s set in her ways. And I’m sorry, that she gave you that impression, but she really does have a good heart. She just has a certain narrow view of scripture…”
“Do you share that view?” Craig asked as they headed back into the main house, his tone not accusatory but genuinely curious.
“Well…” Dave paused a minute, not really sure of his answer. “I don’t know,” he finally replied honestly. “I’m Catholic, but I… I mean, I believe that Christ wanted us to love our neighbours, so….” Dave shrugged. “Whatever your lifestyle is, mate, I don’t have a problem with it. It’s your business. Just don’t tell my wife or priest that,” he added with a smile.
Craig chuckled and nodded. “Your secret’s safe with me. Besides, I doubt there will be anything all that scandalous to report from my side of the fence. I’m a pretty quiet guy, and after the last relationship, I think I’m swearing off men for a while.”
“Damn, I’m sorry,” Dave replied as he pulled his rain slicker from the closet and tugged it over his head. “What happened, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Oh, different goals, I guess. He said I was too romantic… some gay men think that romance is entirely for women, you know, that we should do nothing but have sex all the time, and that monogamy is overrated. At least, it was for him.”
“Oh, wow. I’m sorry, mate. That must have been hell.”
Craig shrugged. “Yeah, well, it was time for a change. So, you ready to brave the storm?”
Dave grinned and nodded. “I’ll tell you a secret. I love summer storms. Before I was married, I used to go outside and run around in them, in my clothing. I just got completely soaked and stood there with my arms out and my head back. Haven’t done that in years, though.”
Craig grinned. “I’ve gotta say, mate. I don’t envy you. This marriage thing doesn’t sound like all it’s cracked up to be if you can’t even run in the rain.”
Dave laughed at that, shrugging his shoulders. “Well, we all make our sacrifices. But we’d better get going before your house becomes one of those sacrifices!”
And with that, the two men hurried out into the storm, running through the soaked lawns to Craig’s front door, which was unlocked and quickly thrown open. “Right, then, it’s just up in the attic. You might as well leave your mac on; it’s pretty bad.”
Dave followed Craig to a pull-down door in the ceiling, and then up a wooden ladder to an attic that was quickly becoming soaked, a good bit of plaster and several roof tiles sitting on the attic floor along with some stray twigs that had blown in.
“All right, mate. Why don’t you hold the edge of the tarp here, outside of the damaged area, and I’ll nail it down?” Dave yelled over the roar of the rain. Craig nodded in agreement and held the tarp up, and they quickly got to work, nailing a plastic square in place to cover the hole from the outside, and then finishing it off from the inside and reinforcing with tape.
“I can’t promise that’ll be completely leak-proof,” Dave admitted when they were through. “But it’ll at least hold till morning, and then we can assess the damage and call someone out here. I know a guy…”
Craig stopped Dave with a hand on his shoulder, smiling brightly. “Dave. You’ve done more than enough, mate. You don’t need to help any more than you already have. I’ll find somebody…”
“No, I insist. Come on, I’ve got nothing better to do. Now let’s get this mess cleaned up,” he suggested, gesturing to the debris surrounding them. Craig smiled and agreed, and they spent the next hour in amiable conversation, getting everything salvageable sorted and the rest thrown away. When they were through, Dave was almost reluctant to go. It was the first time in a while that he had spent a considerable amount of time with anyone other than his wife, members of the congregation, or his co-workers, and it was refreshing.
“Well, I’d better head back. My daughter’s sleeping, and I’ve already left her alone for a while…”
“Yeah, of course. I’m sorry about that.”
“Hey, no problem. It was wonderful to meet you, Craig…”
“Yeah, you too. Hey, I have an idea, though. Can you spare five more minutes?”
Dave raised an eyebrow in question. “Yeah, I guess…”
“C’mon, then. Take off your mac for a second.”
“Okay…” Dave gave Craig a sceptical look, but pulled the wet slicker over his head and draped it on a chair.
“Relax, Dave, I’m not going to molest you. Leave your tool belt, too.”
Dave laughed at the voicing of an unspoken fear which he realized strangely he hadn’t even been experiencing, and undid his belt, placing it on the chair as well.
“Great. Now follow me.”
At first, Dave just stared as Craig opened his front door and ran out into the rain, but after a moment, laughing loudly, he followed, joining Craig in the middle of his front lawn and splashing through the puddles, his arms held out to the sides as he spun around and around, shrieking with joy, his head tilted back as the rainwater slicked down his face and plastered his hair to his scalp. Craig grinned and gave chase, making it halfway around the house before they fell next to each other with a splash in the backyard. Dave’s clothes were soaked, and more than a little muddy, but he felt freer than he had in years. Turning his head to the side, he saw Craig, eyes closed and mouth open in laughter, and his heart soared. Dave suspected that finally, after years of marriage and adulthood, he had found a good candidate for a best friend.
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Don't think I want to know what the wife will say when she comes back and finds that Dave made friends with Craig! Craig will get a nasty enemy in that one!!!
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Mmmmmmmm.
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